The next film we focused on was about the renowned Gaziantep Pistachio. Known for their bright green hue and sweet taste Antep Pistachios are used in every sort of dish in Gaziantep from Coffee to Kebap.
We started the morning visiting a well known third generation chef making a breakfast pastry of sorts called katmer. Mehmet Usta, was a delightful energetic man known to sell an overwhelming amount of katmer.
Katmer is a dough stretched, pressed and whirled into a thin layer of dough which is then coated with a layer of pistachios, sugar, and clotted cream called, kaymak,. This is all folded over and layed in an oven to bake for 5 minutes. The people of Gaziantep love katmer and believe it to give long lasting energy for the morning. Mehmet Usta even gve me a chance to whip some dough around which I abruptly destroyed. However, with the amount of kaymak, pistachio and sugar that i layered, my katmer dish was definitely an indulgent experience.
With katmer under my belt the next stop was Gaziantep’s oldest coffee house, Tahmis Kahvesi, known to be in the same building 400 years. Here I would sample a coffee called menengic. Literally a pistachio flavored coffee, made with finely ground menengic pistachios, it is known to have antiseptic properties, high amounts of vitamin E and no caffeine. An acquired taste the sweetness of the menengic pistachio was quite an exotic flavor.
Our final locations were out in the country side. Our first location would be a wild grove of pistachio trees and then we would head out to search for an 850 year old pistachio tree. A 45 minute drive out of Gaziantep, along countless backroads to a tiny village we met our guide, He would take us another 25 minutes deep into the country of the side, off a dirt road and lead us on a 20 minute walk to find this historic tree. Measured recently my Persian and Turkish scientists this tree is of the renowned species of gaziantep pistachio.
Check out the photo log below
